The 2014 budget caps the amount that the Department for Children and Families (DCF) can spend on putting homeless people up in motels during emergency situations at $1.5 million. At the outset of budget deliberations, the department had suggested putting a cap of $2 million in place. Shaving off another half-million dollars might be hard, DCF Commissioner Dave Yacovone said.
DCF relies on motels when shelters are full, but the amount of money they are spending on this stopgap approach has ballooned recently, raising questions within the department and outside of it about how to stem the trend. DCF will have spent approximately $3.4 million on emergency housing by the end of FY 2013, according to Yacovone.
The Legislature also lays out a temporary definition of who can qualify for emergency housing, leaving it up to the department to develop permanent guidelines. Anyone can qualify during a “catastrophic situation” or during very cold weather. Otherwise, people have to meet the definition of “vulnerable.” The maximum stay at a motel is limited to 28 days.
The budget defines “vulnerable” as someone who is either 65 years of age or older; receiving disability benefits; a child under 6 years of age; or a woman in the third trimester of pregnancy.
Yacovone said it will be important for the department to develop more flexible eligibility guidelines to replace the “drawing a line in the sand” approach. He used the example of a 64-year-old person who has diabetes as somebody who should qualify for emergency housing but would not meet the standards laid out by the Legislature.
